Hi, fellas.
I've been reloading for only a couple months, and I want to thank all of you for helping me in EVERY aspect of the hobby. I've learned a lot, but I messed up a batch of rounds. I went out to the range to shoot some .357's and some .45ACP's that I loaded with mid-range powder weights. Was testing my new guns: a S&W 1911 and a Taurus 605 snubby. I was told to expect harsh recoil with the snubnose but was SHOCKED at the painful bite. When I went to cock the hammer for the next round, I found a locked cylinder, which later opened for me. I thought Taurus had let me down and decided to try the loads in my Dan Wesson, which I was SURE could handle them. Another huge BOOM! and another locked cylinder. I was positively positive that I had checked and rechecked the powder weights, so I was certain that I hadn't made a mistake.
I set the .357's aside and loaded up the .45ACP. I shot 3 rounds and stopped. The recoil was tremendous and I had a FTF. I picked up the empty brass, took one look at it and skeedaddled the hell outta there. (Take a look at the attached pic of the spent brass......I was scared poopless when I saw it). I checked my scale and powder measure when I got home. All was consistent and weighed perfectly.
I was DEJECTED! I couldn't figure out what had gone wrong. It HAD to be the scale. Then it dawned on me. My nephews had been over last week. All my guns were put away, but the reloading room was open and they were fascinated with it. I called my sis and asked her to ask the kids if they had played with the scale. They admitted that yes, they were weighing things on it.
They had turned the adjuster dial on my Lee Safety Scale forward enough so that it was waaaaaay off. It was weighing waaaay too light. I started a thread on here yesterday asking people to weigh a dime for me so I could check the weight on my own scale. The average weight for the posters on that thread was 35.2 grain. My scale read 30 grains! I was weighing my powder at about 2 full grains heavier than it should have been!!! I am so friggin lucky I didn't blow up my guns or my face. I have learned a HUGE lesson here to get a set of check weights and use them every time I reload. I messed up big time.
